Monthly Archives: September 2012

Mrs Astor Vanishes Brooke Astor’s Estate Is Auctioned, and a Friend Recalls Her Fondly.(tags: )

Kids Today, French Version “tu” vs “vous”. (And “ты” vs “вы”, “þér” vs “þú”, etc.)(tags: linguistics ) A journey in Kyrgyzstan Peter reports.(tags: ) Education hope at UN General Assembly “There are more girls in 3 secondary schools in Oxford, … Continue reading →

As some of you know, a paradiddle is a drumming rudiment. The point of it is to practice even tempo and rhythm even if you are doing something a little counterintuitive with your hands. Rather than strike the drum Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right, … Continue reading →

Buddhist ‘Iron Man’ found by Nazis is from space : Nature News Blog Best. Headline. Ever.(tags: science ) London surnames mapped. Dubious about some of the affiliations but big picture probably accurate.(tags: maps ) Mid-Ulster indecision hastens end of UUP … Continue reading →

What is a paradiddle? (No sneaky googling!) I once passed an exam where I had to know the answer, but I was just curious as to how widely known it is.

Sentinelese people – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia An introduction.(tags: north sentinel island ) Mysterious North Sentinel Island | ContemporaryNomad.com Short piece with video showing Sentinelese.(tags: north sentinel island ) The most isolated tribe in the world? – Survival International Survival … Continue reading →

A ‘Politically Motivated’ Prison Scandal Before Georgia’s Election | World Affairs Journal Misha’s slogan: “I’m not vicious, just stupid.”(tags: georgia ) Georgia’s prisons: roots of scandal Interesting points about the penal system in general.(tags: georgia ) Traynor’s Eye: Meeting A … Continue reading →

LEGO Great Ball Contraption (GBC) Layout 2012.9 – YouTube This is just awesome!(tags: machinery ) SciBricks: Difference Engine Another amazing LEGO construction.(tags: machinery ) Poland and Britain: Sikorski in Oxford (again) Sikorski tells it like it is: why Britain needs … Continue reading →

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of. I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, … Continue reading →

Georgian Billionaire Launches Leadership Bid I’m briefly visible at 0:30 (reflected) and 0:40 (real).(tags: georgia ) The Brussels Bloggers’ Guide to Food and Drink With extra guest appearance by @astroehlein !(tags: belgium ) Peacebuilding by the international community “I’m here … Continue reading →

The authors of this Eighth Doctor novel, when on form, are among the best writers of the Who range. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by this joint exercise of their talents, in which they attempt to jointly channel Agatha Christie, Mary … Continue reading →

Rather an academic book, but very interesting, looking at the way in which autism is portrayed in culture: Rain Man and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, obviously, but many other examples are invoked including a … Continue reading →

How many ice cubes would it take to put out the sun? “I am five, and have been wondering about this for almost half my life now: how many ice cubes would it take to put out the sun?”(tags: science … Continue reading →

Georgia prison abuse: Interior minister Akhalaia quits Hooray!(tags: georgia ) Georgia’s Abu Ghraib: The horrific stories of prisoner abuse Content warning – really awful details. Really awful.(tags: georgia ) Georgia’s rowdy election campaign “The malware was cleverly designed: It could … Continue reading →

The Myth of the European Court of Human Rights’ “War on Britain” A little reality (in the Spectator of all places).(tags: ukpolitics eu )

Take a Number: Everest Deaths in 2012 Why people die on the roof of the world.(tags: everest ) Save Our Inboxes! Adopt the Email Charter! Ten excellent rules!(tags: internet ) Rich’s ComixBlog :: The Ten Doctors Excellent.(tags: doctorwho ) Look … Continue reading →

My two alien life forms Children in Brussels.(tags: belgium languages life ) Intelligence chief: EU capital is ‘spy capital’ Espionage in Brussels.(tags: belgium ) Belgian intelligence chief talks to EUobserver: transcript Espionage in Brussels (full detail).(tags: belgium )

Well, I was warned. Starts with Irish coastguards discovering a long-wrecked Nazi submarine and being promptly murdered by sinister Asian monks. Then we shift across the water to Scotland where the police are aided by a psychic order of nobility … Continue reading →

The Doctor, Ace and Benny find themselves confusingly distributed between Akhenaten’s Egypt, Napoleon’s Egypt and 1871 Paris, facing implacable foes intent on dismembering the Doctor. It was all very vivid and enjoyable to read, and only now that I try … Continue reading →

This standalone tale by Rankin is about a Scottish SAS veteran seeking revenge for his murdered brother (NB that brothers crop up a lot in Rankin’s plots). The story is supposedly about the global chemicals industry’s conspiracy to poison our … Continue reading →

Haven’t been well enough to do anything but read today, and have therefore got through a number of books, the first being this tale of Lovejoy going to Rome to steal an antique table from the Vatican Museum. Lovejoy is … Continue reading →

Memorabilia Antonina: Richard III Tony looks at the Princes in the Tower.(tags: history ) Marissa Mayer Just Gave Every Yahoo Employee An iPhone 5 Strictly speaking, anything but a Blackberry!(tags: technology ) Mitt Romney’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad … Continue reading →

In April last year I was able to announce that I had finally completed doing a write-up on-line, be it ever so humble, of every winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Now that I have read Ursula Le … Continue reading →

A rather laid-back novel by Le Guin, tracing the life story of a slave boy with very limited powers of seeing into his own future. We are taken in detail through several carefully and intensely described settings – the slave-holding … Continue reading →

The script of what is still the best Cyberman story, published in 1989 at a time when the episodes were still lost. There’s a brief introductory interview with Davis (and a few words also with script editor Victor Pemberton) pointing … Continue reading →

Before Rockwell, a Gay Artist Defined the Perfect American Male The wonderful homoerotic art of J.C. Leyendecker(tags: art )

I linked a few days back to the Wikipedia discussion of Philip Roth's novel, The Human Stain – in summary, Roth objected to an inaccurate statement about which of his acquaintances he had based the main character on, found it … Continue reading →

I picked up some sort of bug on my travels last week, and though I struggled into work on Thursday and Friday have spent today pretty much horizontal and not really operating at top speed. So, I thought, why not … Continue reading →

Doctor Who stories with Western settings: The Gunfighters (TV, 1966) – the First Doctor has a toothache and visits a dentist who turns out to be Doc Holliday in Tombstone, Arizona. (Doc Holliday and Kate were the last historical figures … Continue reading →

Facebook and Twitter: the art of unfriending or unfollowing people Folks, every day is defriending amnesty day as far as I am concerned!(tags: socialmedia twitter facebook ) Seagull Steals Camera, Films Itself Flying Off Into the Sunset Hilarious.(tags: photos ) … Continue reading →